Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c11.8

c11.8

Now the period stated in all the Buddhist records is 214 years, the difference of nearly 100 years, being in the reigns between Ajâta Satru and Chandra Gupta. In favour of the Buddhist records I may remark that Buddhaghosha, "the Brahman youth, born in the neighbourhood of the terrace of the Great Bo-tree, . . . who had achieved the knowledge of the three Vedas,"* must have been cognizant of the northern chronology when he translated the Singhalese *Attha-katha*, in which he has adopted the same dates as are found in the Mahawansa and Dipawansa. Admitting the correctness of this suggestion, it follows that Buddhaghosha either gave a preference to the Singhalese chronology, or that it did not differ from the northern chronology in his time, that is in A.D. 400. But whatever may be the true explanation of the difference, the fact remains that the Buddhists are unanimous in placing the Nirvâna of Buddha 214 years prior to the accession of Asoka. Accepting this as the most probable account of the interval, we obtain for the Nirvâna the corrected date of 264 + 214 = 478 B.C., instead of 544 B.C., being a difference of 66 years.